DIY: Multimedia Desk, Chapter 3: Hidden Powerstrip

The Multimedia Desk awakens for another episode of tech-infusion. The last time we talked about a cool Cmoy headphone amp being made from the same wood used to make the table. Before that we built the table itself. This week it's something simple: an integrated powerstrip.

Think of it this way: the closer your electrical products are to the outlet, the less the wires have to snake around, making a tangle of confusion to disrupt your Zen décor. This new approach requires some little tricks to make it all work properly, though...

The power strip (From Fry's- we got it at a physical location, not the website- but here it is anyway.) we picked up has [an even] nine outlets spread out across a 36" rail. It has a well-built steel chassis which will be anchored by four ¾" drywall screws to the support beam installed on the bottom of the table. Being black, this product will blend into the shadows like a ninja (Not because they wear black, but because they can blend into the shadows. Ninjas actually wore more brown or whatever was appropriate for the mission at hand. The black colored uniforms were introduced more for movies and comics and so forth, though they are much more commonplace today.).

The first thing we did was mark where the screws were going to go in. Then we drilled very small pilot holes to prevent the wood from cracking when we put the screws in. Then we engaged in all sorts of unnecessary drama to make it look like it we were rocket engineers. Then we screwed the FOUR screws in and we were done. To be fair, there was one more step: Plugging it in. Which we did. Cleverly.

The fun part is how you suddenly make all of your cords shorter after you have brought all of the pluggables within inches of their respective outlets. We have shown you manyways to capture your cords here on Unplggd, but as a stopgap measure, we used twist ties. Ha! So Designery! We will prolly look at something more permanent to help contain the mayhem in the near future.

Now all we have to do when we go on a trip is hit the switch and all associated electrical odds and ends are fully disconnected from the wall- No more electrical fireball damage!

So that's all folks. It's easy to attach one of these to most desks- you could even put it on top or on a leg or wherever your magical creativity takes you.